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CORKESPONDENCE AND REMARKS 



BANCROFTS HISTORY OF THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN 
OF 1777, 



AND THE CHAKACTER OF 



lAJOR-GEN. PHILIP SCHUYLER. 



BY 



GEORGE jt SCHUYLER. 



— 4mi^ — 



OEK:^' 



NEYv^ Y' 
DAVID G. FRANCIS, 506 BROADWAY. 

1867. 



<y 






<9 



BRADSTREET PRESS. 



REMARKS AND CORRESPONDENCE, 



The Northern Campaign of 1777, from the import- 
ance of its results, has always been a subject of great 
interest to the student of American history. In En- 
gland the plan of it was devised by the King, Lord 
Greorge Germain and General Burgoyne ; the latter 
having returned to England from Canada the preced- 
ing year. Its object was to form a junction between 
the two armies — that in Canada and that under Gen- 
eral Howe in New York, which was considered "the 
speediest mode of quelling the rebellion." 

The army was composed of about 8000 men, admira- 
bly appointed. Burgoyne, with the main force, was 
to proceed by Lake Champlain ; a detachment of 
regulars under St. Leger, and of Tories and Indians 
under Sir John Johnson, were to enter the Mohawk 
country, draw the attention of General Schuyler in 
that direction, attack Fort Stanwix, and, having rav- 
aged the valley of the Mohawk, rejoin Burgoyne at 
Albany. 



It was not, however, until late in June, and after 
General Burgoyne had actually started upon his expe- 
dition, that General Washington was certain of its 
destination. He did not know that Burgoyne had 
returned from England with large re-enforcements, and 
it seemed not improbable that the movement toward 
Ticonderoga might be a feint, while the main body of 
the army in Canada should come round by sea, and 
form a junction with the army under General Howe. 

After protracted discussions in Congress as to what 
should be the relative positions of Schuyler and Gates, 
the former being in command of the Northern Depart- 
ment, with head-quarters fixed at Albany — the latter 
posted at Ticonderoga, and claiming to have an in- 
dependent command, on the 22d of May, General 
Schuyler was appointed to the command of the whole 
Northern Department, embracing Ticonderoga, Fort 
Stanwix, and their dependencies. He reached Albany, 
from Philadelphia, on the 3d of June. Gates declining 
to accept the command of Ticonderoga, it was assigned 
to General St. Clair. 

General Schuyler found that "nothing had been 
done during his absence to improve the means of 
defense on the frontiers. Nothing, comparatively 
speaking, to supply Ticonderoga with provisions." He 



proceeded at once, with his usual "activity, fervor, and 
energy," to procure supphes, rouse the committees of 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York to the im- 
portance of sending forward their mihtia, and was on 
his way to re-enforce St. Clair with about 2000 men, 
when, on the 7th of July, he received the intelligence 
that Ticonderoga was evacuated. 

The whole country was astounded. So great had 
been the confidence in the strength of that post, that 
the wildest rumors circulated with reference to the 
cause of this disaster. General Schuyler, as command- 
ing the Department, was suspected, and charges of all 
kinds were heaped upon him, of varying nature. By 
some he was accused of treason, by others of coward- 
ice, principally because he was not present when the 
evacuation occurred. It w^as asserted that he had 
ordered the heavy cannon to be removed from the fort 
and smaller ones to be substituted for them. Absurd 
rumors were circulated, and believed, that the price 
for his treason was inclosed in balls shot by the enemy 
into his lines. 

It is needless to dwell upon the well-known fact that 
General Schuyler, by the verdict of a court-martial, by 
resolutions of Congress, and by the testimony of all 
historians from that time to this, is acquitted of all 



6 

blame for this surrender ; and, until now, of all the 
imputations growing out of it to which I have referred. 

After the evacuation of Ticonderoga and the losses 
at Hubbardton, General St. Clair was five days wan- 
dering, unheard from, through the woods of Vermont, 
and finally joined General Schuyler at Fort Edward 
with only "1500 regulars, the militia having all 
returned to their homes." They were "without tents 
or artillery — sickness, distress, and desertion prevail- 
ing." 

From this time, until relieved of his command by 
General Gates, which was after the defeat of St. Leger 
and the battle of Bennington, the conduct of the cam- 
paign by General Schuyler has met with the unqualified 
approbation of those who have studied its details or 
written its history, until the appearance of Mr. Ban- 
croft's ninth volume. 

Chancellor Kent says : ' ' The enemy kept pressing 
upon his advanced posts, but in the midst of unparal- 
leled difficulties his retreat was slow and safe, and 
every inch of ground disputed." 

Speaking of the state of his army, he says : "By the 
advice of a council of general officers, Schuyler was 
obliged to let one half of the militia go home, under a 
promise of the residue to continue for three weeks." 



Irving, in describing Washington's admirable fore- 
sight at this time, says: "Due credit must also be 
given to the sagacious counsels and executive energy 
of Schuyler, who suggested some of the best moves in 
the campaign, and carried them vigorously into action. 
Never was Washington more ably and loyally seconded 
by any of his generals." 

Chief-Justice Marshall, in his Life of Washington, 
says : "In this gloomy state of things no officer could 
have exerted more diligence and skill than Schuyler." 
He describes with fervor his proceedings — the impedi- 
ments thrown in the way of an advance by Burgoyne — 
the destruction of roads, bridges, and growing crops — 
the driving away of live stock, and his endeavors to 
divide the enemy's force by posting troops upon his 
flanks. 

I have thus, generally, referred to these accounts, in 
order to contrast what has hitherto been the estimate 
of General Schuyler's conduct and personal attributes 
in this campaign, with that now given by Mr. Bancroft. 
He writes as follows : 

"Meantime the British were never harried by the 
troops with Schuyler, against whom public opinion was 
rising. Men reasoned rightly, that, if Ticonderoga was 
untenable, he should have known it, and given timely 



8 

orders for its evacuation ; instead of which, he liad 
been heaping up stores there to the last. To screen 
his popularity, he insisted that the retreat was made 
without the least hint from himself, and was ' ill- 
judged, and not warranted by necessity.' With manly 
frankness St. Clair assumed the whole responsibility 
of the praiseworthy act which had saved to the country 
many of its bravest defenders. 

" Schuyler owed his place to his social position — not 
to military talents. Anxious, and suspected of a 
want of personal courage, he found everything go ill 
under his command. To the Continental troops of St. 
Clair, who were suffering from the loss of their clothes 
and tents, he was unable to restore confidence ; nor 
could he rouse the people. The choice for Governor 
of New York fell on George Clinton ; 'his character,' 
said Washington to the Council of Safety, ' will make 
him peculiarly useful at the head of your State.' 
Schuyler wrote : ' His family and connections do not 
entitle him to so distinguished pre-eminence.' The aid 
of Vermont was needed ; Schuyler would never address 
its Secretary except in his 'private capacity.' There 
could be no hope of a successful campaign, but with 
the hearty co-operation of New England ; yet Schuyler 
gave leave for one half of its militia to go home at 



9 

once, and the rest to follow in three weeks, and then 
called upon Washington to supply their places by 
troops from the south of Hudson River, saying to his 
friends that one Southern soldier was worth two from 
New England. 

"On the twenty-second, long before Burgoyne was 
ready to advance, Schuyler retreated to a position 
four miles below Fort Edward. Here again he com- 
plained of his ' exposure to immediate ruin.' His 
friends urged him to silence the growing suspicion of 
his cowardice ; he answered : ' If there is a battle, I 
shall certainly expose myself more than is prudent.' 
To the New York Council of Safety he wrote on the 
twenty-fourth : ' I mean to dispute every inch of ground 
with Burgoyne, and retard his descent as long as pos- 
sible ;' and in less than a week, without disputing any- 
thing, he retreated to Saratoga, having his heart set 
on a position at the junction of the Mohawk and 
Hudson. The courage of the commander being gone, 
his officers and his army became spiritless ; and, as his 
only resource, he solicited aid from Washington with 
unreasoning importunity." 

Further on, he says : "All this while Schuyler con- 
tinued to despond. On the thirteenth of August he 
could write from Stillwater to Washington : ' We are 



10 

obliged to give way and retreat before a vastly supe- 
rior force, daily increasing in numbers, and which will 
be doubled if General Burgoyne reaches Albany, which, 
I apprehend, will be very soon ;' and the next day, 
flying from a shadow cast before him, he moved his 
army to the first island in the mouth of the Mohawk 
River. He pitied the man who should succeed him, 
and accepted the applause of his admirers at Albany 
for ' the wisdom of his sr.fe retreat.' For all this half- 
heartedness, the failure of Burgoyne was certain ; but 
the glory of his defeat was reserved for soldiers of Vir- 
ginia, New York, and New England." 

Upon my return from Europe (in December last), I 
read Mr. Bancroft's volume, and having determined, as 
far as possible, to confine myself to what I consider per- 
sonal in this matter, viz. : that General Schuyler's con- 
duct of the campaign was influenced by cowardice, I 
asked Mr. Bancroft for the authority upon which this 
view was founded. He sent me the following docu- 
ments : 



Extract of a letter from Richard Montgomery to lioht. R. Liningstoii,, 

dated 

New York, 3d Juno, 1775. 
" Phil. Schuyler was mentioned to me by Mr. Scot, [for Major-Gencral for New 
York.] His consequence in the province makes him a fit subject for an important 
trust, but has he strong nerves? I could wish to have that point well ascertained 



11 



with respect to any man so employed." — Livingston Papers, 1775-1777, pp. 31 
and 33. 



Exb-act of a letter from Gen. Richard Montgomery, to Gen. Schuyler, dated 

August, 1775. 
Moving vs^ithout your orders, I do not like ; but, on the other hand, the preven- 
tion of the enemy is of the utmost consequence ; for if he gets liis vessels into the 
Lake, it is over with us for the present summer. Let me entreat you to follow in 
a whale boat, leaving some one to bring on the troops and artillery. It will give 
the men great confidence in your spirit and activity ; and how necessary to a 
general this confidence is, I need not tell you. I most earnestly wish, that this 
may meet your approbation ; and be assured that I have your honor and reputa- 
tion much at heart. — Sparks' Am. Biograpliy, vol. I., pp. 194-195. 



Extract of a letter from Samuel Adam,s to Richard Henry Lee, dated 

Philadelphia, July 15, 1777. 
"We have Letters from Genl. Schuyler in the Northern Department giving us 
an account of the untoward situation of our affairs in that Quarter. I confess 
it is no more than I expected when he [Schuyler] was again appointed to the 
command there. You know that it was urg'd by some Gentlemen, that as he 
had a large interest and powerful! connections in that part of the country, no one 
could so readily avail himself of supplies for an army there, if wanted upon an 
emergency, as he could. A most substantial reason why he should have been 
appointed a Quarter Master or a Commissary. But it seems to have been a pre- 
vailing motive to appoint him to the chief command. You have his account in 
the inclosed News Paper, which leaves us to guess what is become of the Gar- 
rison. It is indeed droll enough to see a General not knowing where to find the 
main Body of his army ! Gates is the man of my choice. He is honest and true, 
and has the art of gaining the Love of his Soldiers, particularly because he is 

9 



12 



always present and shares with them in Fatigue and Danger. But Gates has 
been disgusted ! We are hourly expecting to be relieved from this disagreeable 
state of xmcertainty, by a particular account from some person who was near the 
army, who trusts not to memory altogether, lest some circumstances may be 
omitted while others are misapprehended." — Papers of Samuel Adams, IV., 912. 



E.drart of an original copy or draft of a letter from Jay to Schuyler, dated 

21st July, 1777. 
" A certain gentleman of that board [the New York Council,] whom I need 
not name, and from whom I do not desire this information should he concealed, is 
your secret enemy ; he professes much respect &c for you ; he can't see thro' the 
business ; he wishes you had been nearer to the fort, [Ticonderoga] though he 
does not doubt your spirit ; he thinks we ought to suspend our judgment, and not 
censure you rashly." — America, 1777, II., 112f. 



Gen. Schuyler to John Jay. 

Moses Creek, July 27, 1777. 
Dear Sir: 

General Arnold who is advanced with two Brigades of Continental troops, and 
the militia of the coimty of Albany, about two miles in our front, has just informed 
me that the enemy have appeared on the heights above Fort Edward in consid- 
erable force, and that from these movements he judges an attack will be made to 
day. Loth as I am that a general engagement should ensue, and that I will 
take every prudent measure to prevent it, it is not impossible but it may take 
place, and as the fate of every person engaged in it is uncertain, as I shall cer- 
tainly be there, and in order to inspirit my troops shall expose myself more than 
it is prudent for a commanding officer to do, I may possibly get rid of the cares of 
this life, or fall into their hands ; in either case I entreat you to rescue my memory 
from that load of calumny that ever follows the unfortunate. My papers will 



13 



i'urnish you with sufficient materials, and I trust that the goodness of your heart 
will induce you to devote a part of your time to it. I leave this with my Secre- 
tary to be sent to you, if I shall not return. I am this moment going to mount. 
Adieu I 

Endorsed : To be sent if any accident should happen to me. 

[No accident happened, but the letter was sent to Jay.] 



Win. Duer to Gen. Schuyler. 

Philadelphia, 29th Jul}', 1777. 
[Extract.] 
There is but one thing for you to do to esta))lish your character on such a basis 
that even suspicion itself shall be silent, and in doing this, you will I am con- 
scious follow the impulse of your own heart. From the nature of your depart- 
ment, and other unavoidaljle causes you have not during the course of this war 
had an opportunity of evincing that spirit which I and your more intimate friends 
know you to possess. Of this circumstance prejudice takes a cruel advantage, 
and malice lends an easy ear to her dictates. You will not I am sure see this 
place till your conduct gives the lie to this insinuation, as it has done Ijefore to 
every other which your enemies have so industriously circulated. — Rev. Papers, 
355-357. 



Extract of a letter from Gen. Schuyler to Wm. Duer, dated 

Albany, August 8, 1777. 
" The scoundrels that doubt my personal fortitude dare not put it to the trj^al."- 
Revolutionary Papers, 373. 



Oul. Udney Hay to Geo. Clinton. 

Stillwater, August 13, 1777. 
Sir: 

I lament I cannot give your Excellency a better account of things here. Mis- 
fortunes and fatigue have broken down the disciphne and spirits of the troops 



14 



and converted them in a great degree into a rabble. They seem to have lost 
all confidence in themselves and their leaders. The militia seem to be infected 
with the same spirit. Such as are with us are good for nothing but to eat and 
waste and grumble, and those at home think home safest. When I tell you that 
the sight of twenty or thirty Indians on our flank or rear, fills the whole camp 
with alarm, and that the act of shooting one from behind the walls of a log cabin 
has been commemorated in General Orders as a proof of great gallantry, your 
Excellency will be able to judge of what will probably happen, if by any accident 
we are brought into close contact with Burgoyne's veterans. But of such an 
event there is little danger. "We first collected at Fort Edward, but quickly left 
that for a strong position on Moses' Creek. The Indians soon made this uncom- 
fortable, when we removed here and began a fortified camp, but here we are not 
safe, and I am under orders for another move. "V an Schaick's Island is thought 
to be safe against the attacks of Indians, and there we go. Should he [Gates] 
not come soon, your Excellency may expect to hear that our Headquarters are 
removed to Albany. 



[Collection of Papers, 431-433.] 

Jiis. Duane to Gen. Schuyler. 

PiiiLAD. 23d Augt., 1777. 
[Extract.] 
The change of command was founded merely on the representation of the 
Eastern States, that their militia suspicious of your mihtary character, would not 
turn out in defense of New York while you presided in the Northern Depart- 
ment. 

All your friends wish that fortune may put it in your power to give some 
signal proof of the only military talent which you have not evidenced iu the 
course of your command for want of an opportunity. 



In the correspondence which ensued with Mr. Ban- 
croft I did not deem it necessary, in each case which 



15 

admitted of it, to show that the extract was quahfied 
by the general tenor of the letter. 

General Montgomery's familiar letter to his brother- 
in-law, written in 1775, before the army appointments 
were made, and specnlating npon the fitness of the 
candidates, will hardly pass as the expression of an 
opinion. 

The letter of Mr. Jay, of July 21st, 1777, is pub- 
lished at length in his life by his son, William Jay. It 
is a long and sympathizing letter, enumerating all the 
rumors in circulation as to the loss of Ticonderoga, to 
which I have previously referred. 

If from this letter Mr. Bancroft can find any ground 
for imputing cowardice to Greneral Schuyler, he would 
have much stronger reasons for accusing him of treason 
and dishonesty. 

This also applies to several of the other extracts, 
when read in connection with the whole letters. 

At this time, it seemed to me, that Mr. Bancroft must 
have been accidentally led to ignore all other rumors 
connected with the loss of Ticonderoga, while endeavor- 
ing to fasten this one as a permanent stain on General 
Schuyler's character. In this spirit I commented, as 
follows, upon what he advances as sufficient authority 
for his version : 



16 

New York, Dec. 28th, 1866. 

Hon. George Bancroft, 
Dear Sir : 

I Have read with interest, in your last volume, the account 
of the Northern campaign of 1777, and am much disappointed 
at the conclusions you have arrived at in regard to the public 
ser\dces of my grandfather, General Schuyler. 

I should not, of course, trouble you with any personal com- 
munication on that score. You have, however, by way of 
explaining his want of success, attacked his private character, 
hitherto unimpeached, attributing to him want of pereonal 
courage, the gravest charge which can be brought against a 
soldier. 

It is but fair to assume that you have made this charge from 
a sense of duty, and based upon, what seems to you, conclusive 
evidence. 

As the representative of General Schuyler, you cannot deem 
it unreasonable in me to ask you, at your earliest leisure, for 
access to the sources of information which have authorized you 
to make these broad statements to his dishonor. 

Respectfully yours, &c., 

George L. Schuyler, 



New York, Dec. 28th, 1866. 

My Dear Mr. Schuyler : 

I this moment receive your letter of to-day. I think you 
cannot have read my volume with care. I represent the loss of 
Ticonderoga as that which must have taken ]3lace whoever had 
been in command; and I explain the diminution of General 
Schuyler's force as a consequence of the state of feeling between 
himself and the New England men. Were it anybody but one 



17 



like you, for wliom I cherish a most sincere regard, I might 
decline anything that could lead to a private discussion of ques- 
tions appertaining to history ; but to you I prefer to say that if 
you will specify any passage of mine of the character which 
you indicate, I will endeavor to set before you grounds for the 

statement 

Very truly yours, 

Geo. Bangroft. 



New York, Dec. 29th, 1866. 

Dear Sir: 

The words which bear upon the private character of General 
Schuyler, referred to in my note of yesterday, are on pages 372 
and 373 of your last volume. 

"Anxious, and suspected of a want of pefrsonal courage^ 

"His friends urged him to silence the gr Giving suspicion of his 
cowardice^ 

Page 374 you give an intimation that Washington shared in 
these views; but as the expression "want of fortitude" admits 
of a different construction, I confine myself, as stated in my 
note, to asking for the grounds on which you are satisfied to 
write of General Schuyler as a man suspected of want of per- 
sonal courage. 

Respectfully yours, 

George L. Schuyler. 

The same day I received from Mr. Bancroft the extracts 
'already published. 



New York, January 16th, 1867. 

Dear Sir : 

Absence from New York has prevented me fi"om acknowl- 
edging, at an earlier date, the receipt of your note of December 
29th, and the documents accompanying it. 



18 



When I asked for the evidence upon which, in your History 
of the Campaign of 1777, you stamp the private character of 
General Schuyler as a man "suspected of want of personal 
courage," I did not propose to question the fact that reports to 
that effect were circulated in obscure or interested quarters. 

He was, in like manner, suspected of frauds upon the Gov- 
ernment ; of treason to the national cause ; of every minor offense 
that prejudice or malice could devise, by some who had private 
animosities to avenge, and by others who, in public life, were 
aiming at the removal of those generals who placed implicit 
confidence in the ability and patriotism of Washington ; thus 
inaugurating a policy which was to culminate in the appointment 
of General Gates as Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the 
United States. 

All of these charges which were brought foi'ward with any 
semblance of authority were closely investigated and refated. 
Most of them were withdrawn by the parties who made them. 

A Committee of Inquiry of Congress made a report which 
placed the character of General Schuyler "higher than ever as 
an able and active commander, and a zealous and disinterested 
patriot." 

When the charge of treason, with documents supposed amjDly 
to sustain it, was forwarded to General Washington, he thus 
writes to General Schuyler: "I look upon the charge against 
you with an eye of disbelief, and sentiments of detestation and 
abhorrence." 

Of the vague rumors that want of personal courage was 
among the causes which influenced Genei'al Schuyler in his pol- 
icy of retarding the advance of Burgoyne for more than two 
mxonths to a progress of half a mile a day, until the enlistment of 
fresh troops enabled him, as he did, to take the offensive, no pub- 
lic notice appears ever to have been taken. His plan, approved 
by Washington, and sustained by all subsequent military criti- 
cism, except yours, when once understood, seems to have left 



19 



such rumors to fall to the ground. Nor am I aware that they 
were ever called up again during his after career. 

This portion of your history appears nearly fifty years after 
the actors in the war of the Revolution have passed away. It 
is written in the narrative style ; authorities are not referred to, 
but quotations of sentences are freely interpolated in the text ; 
a method which gives force and weight to a paragraph, but dan- 
gerous as to the correctness of the impressions which may be 
produced. 

Your conclusions, as you state in the preface, are the result 
of long study and investigation, and of a carefal weighing of 
testimony as regards the public services and private character 
of those of whom you treat. When, therefore, you attribute to 
"want of personal courage" General Schuyler's management of 
the Campaign of 1777, no one who reads, can doubt that your 
impressions are based upon evidence of a most convincing kind. 
But if this is not the case ; if, nearly a hundred years after the 
termination of his military career, such charges can be brought 
up against a commanding general, based only upon the camp 
gossip and partisan rumors of the day, what man's reputation is 
safe ? 

Who, of the generals ranking among the first in our late war 
of the rebellion, is not aware that his ofiicial conduct and his 
private character have both been assailed, at times, by ignorance, 
prejudice, or malice; that reports have been circulated which 
personal friends have commented upon with bitterness, urging him 
to refute them by word or deed, and yet who lives on with the 
firm assurance that, when the future historian shall examine 
calmly and without prejudice into his personal character and 
official career, they will not have a feather's weight in determ- 
ining the position he is to hold in the estimation of succeeding 
generations ? 

Presuming, therefore, that you are acting upon fair and delib- 
erate conviction, and after careful examination, the papers you 

3 



20 



inclose to me, as giving the just grounds for the conclusions to 
which you have arrived, seem to me wholly insufficient. Many 
of them do not refer to his personal character at all, and those 
that do, only prove that such reports existed ; that they were 
fostered by the political and private enemies of General Schuy- 
ler, to the great indignation of his personal friends, who treat 
them with contempt. 

I shall refer to them generally. When General Montgomery, 
having learned that Carleton had completed his aiTned vessels 
at St. Johns, hastened to the Isle au Noix without orders, he 
knew, as you are aware, that General Schuyler was, by order of 
Congi'ess, attending a Conference of the Six Nations at Albany. 
He felt the importance of his presence, as the campaign was 
about to open. Their personal relations were of the warmest 
kind. General Montgomery, than whom no braver man lived, 
always leaned upon the support of General Schuyler for his 
greater powers of organization, as well as for his indefatigable 
spirit and energy. You are also aware that General Schuyler 
did join him immediately upon the receipt of his letter, though 
suftering under illness of the most excruciating character. 

The letter you inclose from General Montgomery is not the 
whole letter, or a continuous extract from it. Your clerk, in 
transcribing it, has omitted the closing words of the last sentence. 
He ends his extract with these words : " Be assured I have your 
honor and reputation much at heart;" but the sentence is as 
follows: "Be assured I have your honor and reputation much 
at heart, as of the greatest consequeyice to the j^uhlic service; — that 
all my ambition is to do my duty in a subordinate capacity, 
without the least ungenerous intention of lessening that merit 
so justly your due, and which I omit no opportunity of setting 
in its fullest light." General Montgomery was no hypocrite. 

I find nothing in this letter, or in anything said or written by 
General Montgomeiy, which even alludes to the question of 
General SchTiyler's personal courage. Their relations were close 



21 



and warm up to the glorious end of Montgomery's career. They 
were both " suspected of want of skill and bravery" by rumors 
attributed to General Wooster (though subsequently denied by 
him to be true), and each did all in his power to encourage and 
support the other, under the load of difficulties, caused by mal- 
ice and insubordination, which tried them almost beyond power 
of endurance. 

The sneers of Samuel Adams fall harmlessly to the ground 
when he insinuates of General Schuyler what he does of Wash- 
ington, criticising his "Fabian policy" as being caused by want 
of proper spirit, and when he launches forth in praises of the 
honesty, truth and courage of Gates, " the man of his choice."* 

All that he says of General Schuyler's ignorance of the where- 
abouts of St. Clair, after his flight from Ticonderoga, and his 
insinuations as to General Schuyler's not being where he could 
give an account of that affair, of course have no weight in forai- 
ing your opinion, as a very few days sufficed, after that letter 
was written, to explain the reasons, which are well known to 
you. 

I almost think that General Schuyler's letter to John Jay has 
been sent to me by mistake. 

When near the prospect of a general engagement, which he 
desires, if possible, to prevent, — (he had but 4500 men, regulars 
and militia included, to oppose to the whole army of Burgoyne,) 
— at the same time, if it does occur, feeling there is a necessity, 
" with a smaller and dispirited force, for him to expose himself 
more than is customary for a commanding officer to do," it does 
not seem to me unmanly in General Schuyler to confide this to 

* The biographer of Samuel Adams thus comments upon the result of his per- 
severing and successful efforts in Congress to obtain General Schuyler's removal: 

"Time has removed from General Schuj'ler all blame in the disasters, and the 
investigation of his conduct resulted in his honorable acquittal. The substitution of 
Gates gave to the country a General who was in no respect superior to Schuyler, 
than whom a braver or more trustworthy patriot never lived." 



99 



a most intimate personal friend, and to request him, in case of 
accident, to take charge of his joapers, and relieve his memory 
from "that load of calumny that ever follows the unfortunate." 
On the contrary, it seems to me to show that at such a time it 
was not fear of death, but of the loss of reputation, dearer to 
him than life, which was uppermost in General Schuyler's 
thoughts and feelings. 

The letter of Colonel Udney Hay to George Clinton is but 
an ignorant criticism of the plan of a campaign which he did 
not comprehend, while the letter of Mr. Duer refers to the mali- 
cious reports in circulation after the loss of Ticonderoga, ap|)ar- 
ently to assure General Schuyler how much they provoke, but 
how little they move, him and others of his personal friends. 

Had you deemed it worth while to have copied for my use 
the luhole of this letter as published in Irving's History (Vol. iii., 
p. 132), the bearing of your extract, as in the case of General 
Montgomery's letter, would have been better understood. 

The jjartial extracts of letters of Jay and Duane show still 
more clearly that these reports are fomented by personal and 
political foes, who endeavor to keep themselves out of sight. 

Well may General Schuyler say, in his reply to Mr. Duer, 
"The scoundrels who doubt my personal fortitude dare not put 
it to the trial." 

On the other hand, the whole tenor of General Schuyler's 
character and pursuits seems to be at variance with the conclu- 
sions you have drawn from these very slight premises. He was 
descended from a family which, from the first settlement of the 
Colony, ever bore an active and honorable part in the savage 
warfare which characterized the contests of those days, when 
small bodies of men met in close conflict, and when battles were 
more especially lost or won by the personal bearing of those 
who were engaged in them. 

In that region, between the lakes and the upper waters of the 
Hudson, appropriately styled "the bloody gi'ound" of the Col- 



23 



ony of New York, there is scarcely a district where he could 
not point to the grave of an ancestor, or to some record of their 
unflinching energy in victory or defeat. This may appear to 
you irrelevant, but it ought, and does, have its weight when we 
are called upon to believe that a man with such antecedents 
should have so basely degenerated in heart, while he apparently 
followed so closely in the footsteps of his ancestors, making war 
the profession of his choice, when there was but little induce- 
ment for a native of the Colony to enter the service of the Brit- 
ish army. 

At eighteen years of age he embarked in those expeditions 
among the Indians of the Six Nations, which were always cus- 
tomary with his family, when he obtained that influence over 
them, afterward so important in the war of the Kevolution, an 
influence based in part upon his reputation for truth and jus- 
tice ; but of far more weight with that rude and warlike race 
was his wide-spread renown for activity, firmness, and contempt 
of danger. 

He served in the old French war as a captain, under Colonel 
Bradstreet, one of the bravest and most adventurous of the 
commanders of the time. He was by his side through a severe 
fight of unequal numbers on the Oswego Kiver, and there had 
an occasion for displaying qualities of humanity which savor 
little of want of self-confidence or courage. 

" When it became necessary to abandon the island to meet 
the enemy, advancing in large numbers on the shore of the 
river, there being but one batteau, already overloaded, the sol- 
diers refused, on the score of safety, to receive in it a wounded 
soldier of the enemy. Captain Schuyler, handing his weapons 
and coat to a companion, bore the wounded man to the water, 
swam with him on his back across the deep channel, placed him 
in the hands of a surgeon, and joined his command in time to 
lead them in the severe fight which followed, and which ended 
in the repulse of the enemy." 



24 



With General Bradstreet he maintained the closest personal 
relations, which lasted through life. So also with Lord Vis- 
count Howe, who fell at Ticonderoga. With all his brother 
officers, after the peace of 1763, he held a place utterly in- 
compatible with any suspicion as to his wanting personal 
courage. 

His subsequent career as a member of the Colonial Legisla- 
ture, and of various other public bodies, was marked by a bold- 
ness and independence which often put both his moral and 
personal courage to the proof 

When a fi-ightened and pliant legislature, composed almost 
exclusively of men of wealth and high standing, strove to crush 
the somewhat violent remonstrances of the advocates of popular 
rights by proposing measures to detect and imprison the authors 
of them, he alone stood up for their rights; and the sole 
negative vote on the record, in their behalf, is that of Philip 
Schuyler. 

Private letters show that he was ready, if necessaiy, to respond 
to the cvistom of his time, which required personal satisfaction 
to be given for real or supposed injuries, and from which no 
family has suffered more than his own ; a custom now almost 
generally condemned, but the observance of which was then 
deemed indispensable. 

When subsequently appointed a Major-General in the Army 
of the United States, the only period of his life to which the 
rumors now under consideration refer, it is difficult to discrimi- 
nate between the personal character of the man and his public 
services as a commanding officer; the latter being a subject from 
which, in this eorrespondence, I purposely refrain. 

As against the rumors, however, upon which your conclusions 
are founded, I am satisfied to rest General Schuyler's reputation 
as a man of courage, upon general grounds. If a person so sit- 
uated has been wanting in courage, it is generally not difficult 
to establish the fact ; but it is not always easy to prove positively 



25 



the reverse, unless circumstances have afforded an exceptional 
opportunity in the case of a general officer to do so. 

General Schuyler has now been dead more than sixty years. 
Sufficient time has elapsed to form an impartial estimate of his 
private character, as well as of his public services. Whatever 
may be thought of the latter, no man until now has pul^licly 
impugned the former. Many have borne their testimony to its 
worth, embracing in that tribute their sense of his " fiery spirit " 
as one of its prominent attributes. 

Daniel Webster said to me, upon a social occasion, " When a 
life of your gi'andfather is to be published, I should like to write 
a preface. I was brought up with New England prejudices 
against him, but I consider him as second only to Washing- 
ton in the services he rendered to the country in the war 
of the Revolution. His zeal and devotion to the cause, 
under difficulties which would have paralyzed the efforts 
of most men, and his fortitude and courage when assailed 
by malicious attacks upon his public and private character, 
every one of which was proved to he false^ have impressed me 
with a strong desire to express publicly my sense of his great 
qualities." 

Chief Justice Kent, writing of General Schuyler, says : "In 
acuteness of intellect, profound thought, indefatigable activity, 
exhaustless energy, pure patriotism, and persevering and intrepid 
public efforts, he had no superior." 

The campaigns of 1775 and 1777 are treated by Washing- 
ton Irving much more in detail than they are by you. You 
are well aware how differently he judges of the public ser- 
vices of General Schuyler from yourself; and surely no one 
could have a quicker or more refined perception than Mr. 
Irving of all that was noble or contemptible in any man's 
private character. His pages beam throughout with warm 
expressions of his high esteem for General Schuyler as a 
soldier and a man. I may also say that Mr. Irving frequently 



26 



expressed to me in conversation his appreciation of General 
Schuyler in terms almost identical with those used by Mr. 
Webster. 

General Schuyler lived twenty years after the war, quite 
long enough for all matters of a personal character to be scru- 
tinized and detennined. He took an active part in politics; 
and at no period of our country's history were rival partisans 
more bitter and personal. Yet no one ever brought up, in the 
excitement of party strife, these rumors against his reputation, 
started during the war. They were deemed so idle, and were 
considered so amply refuted, as to have no longer a place in 
men's minds or memories. 

With all the companions of his military life — with Washing- 
ton, Lafayette, and otlier surviving leaders, as well as with 
those who served under him, or were a part of his military 
family, to whom his personal military character was thoroughly 
known, he ever preserved the most intimate personal relations 
— relations wholly incompatible with any suspicion on their 
part that he had ever been deficient in personal courage. As 
he advanced in years, that respect for his personal character 
appears to have increased. He was the fi-iend and adviser of 
Hamilton, and though a bitter political opponent of Jefferson, 
the latter was a visitor at his house, and consulted with him 
upon questions of finance. He died with the conviction, 
shared until now by his family and friends, that whatever esti- 
mate the future historian might place upon his capacity as a 
public servant, his private character was beyond the reach of 
cavil or of blame. 

I do not think, as against this general record of his life, the 
gi'ounds you rely upon for an opposite conclusion are sound. 
I feel justified in asking you to reconsider your opinion ; and 
should you find occasion to change it, so far as to admit that 
the charge of " suspicion of want of personal courage" had no 
more ground for belief than those other charges which were 



27 

publicly inquired into and refuted, that you will, in justice to 
General Schuyler's memory, publish a note to that effect in tlie 
preface to your next forthcoming volume. 

Respectfully yours, &c., 

George L. Schuyler. 
Hon. George Bancroft, 

21st Street, New York. 



Nkw York, Feb. 4th, 1867. 

Dear Sir: 

Excuse me for reminding you that my communication of 
January 16th ended with a request. 

May I ask you, at your earliest convenience, to inform me of 
your decision in regard to it. 

Respectfully yours, &c., 

George L, Schuyler. 
Hon. George Bancroft, 

17 West 21st Street, New York. 



New York, February 5tli, 18G7. 

Dear Sir : 

If your views of the duty of a historian coincide in any 
degree with mine, you will on second thought agree with me 
that he ought never to settle in advance with the representative 
of a family the tenns in which he should speak of any member 
of that family who has played a public part. My next volume 

4 



28 



will make honorable mention of the public services of General 
Schuyler ; but what I shall say of him I cannot communicate 
to you now. This is so obviously the dictate of propriety, that 
it must meet your approval. 

In reference to any reasonings or documents which you may 
communicate to me, they will receive my most respectful and 
impartial consideration. 

As to the special point on wliich you have written to me, 
we are not so far apart as some phrases in your letter would 
seem to imply. We are agi'eed that General Schuyler was 
removed from the Northern command at the end of the sum- 
mer of 1777, by an almost unanimous vote of the States in 
Congress, notwithstanding that New York had at that time 
in its delegation friends of Schuyler thoroughly skilled in 
parliamentary tactics. We are also agreed that the change of 
command was founded, not on the odium which attended the 
losing of Ticonderoga, but merely on the representation of the 
Eastern States that their militia, suspicious of his military 
character, would not turn out in defence of New York while 
he presided in the Northern Department. But whether the 
men thus suspicious, in Congress or out of Congress, were in 
the right, or were simply mistaken, or were such as deserve 
to be called by so harsh an epithet as scoundrels, is a point on 
which I have expressed no opinion ; and where I refer in words 
of my own to the antipathy which existed between Schuyler 
and the New England troops, I call it, in w^ords carefully 
chosen, " a not wholly unreasonable aversion" on their part. 
Nay, more, though I believe Schuyler himself, at a later day, 
declared Congress to have acted wisely in superseding him, I 
have nowhere said so ; but have simply narrated the events as 
they happened. 

I sometimes think you have never read my volume. High 
praise is awarded to Schuyler as an officer and as a man. 
On page 200, for example, I speak of him as a military com- 



29 



mander ever on the alert, and doing the right thing, and a 
most important thing, at the right moment, and from his own 
impulse, leaving the reader to contrast his conduct with that of 
Grates under similar circumstances. And again, on page 338, 
he is described as one who loved his country more than rank 
or fortune. 

Yours respectfully, 

Geo. BANCRorT. 



New York, Feb. 9th, 1867. 

Dear Sir : 

Your note of the 5th instant is received. As connected 
with the special point on which I have written to you, namely. 
General Schuyler's want of personal courage, you introduce as 
new matter the circumstances connected with his removal from 
the command of the Northern Army, upon which you say that 
we agree. There are, however, several statements to which I 
do not agree. I refer to them in their order : 

Whether the vote for the removal of General Schuyler 
(August 1st, 1777) was nearly unanimous or not, I have no 
means of ascertaining. The " yeas and nays" for any resolu- 
tion in Congress were called, for the first time in its history, 
on the 8th of August, one week later. The resolution, as it 
ajjpears upon the journal, reads as follows : Eesolved, That 
Major-General Schuyler be directed to repair to head-quarters. 
That General Washington be directed to order such General 
Officer as he shall think proper, to repair immediately to the 
Northern Department to relieve Major-General Schuyler in his 
command there. 



30 

General Washington declined taking any part in this busi- 
ness. 

In a letter to Congress (August 3d) " he desires to be ex- 
cused from making any appointment to the command of the 
Northern Army." 

It was upon the receipt of this letter that General Gates (as 
stated in your last volume) was appointed, by the vote of eleven 
states. 

That the adherents of General Gates, in and out of Congi-ess, 
made large use of " the want of confidence of the militia of the 
Eastern States in General Schuyler's military character," is cer- 
tainly true ; but that such want of confidence was in any way 
connected with suspicions of his lack of personal courage re- 
mains to be shown. I find no evidence of it in any quarter 
entitled to consideration. 

You are, I think, mistaken in assuming that General Schuy- 
ler's liarsh epithet of " Scoundrels" was applied to any persons, 
in or out of Congress, who openly criticised his military charac- 
ter. The letter of Mr. Duer, in answer to which he uses that 
expression, refers to the hints and sneers of malicious individ- 
uals — not to any outspoken manly attacks ; and to such persons 
the epithet justly applies. 

I was not aware that General Schuyler, at a later day, de- 
clared Congress to have acted wisely in superseding him ; but 
if so, he certainly did not thereby indorse the idea that his 
want of personal courage was questioned, by his removal. 

Upon the petition of six General Ofiicers of the Northern 
Army, Congress requested him to remain with them, after being 
deprived of his command. He did remain, even under such 
trying circumstances, and was present when Burgoyne laid 
down his arms on his own grounds, amid the smouldering 
ruins of his home, which the latter had so wantonly destroyed. 

If the action of Congress in removing General Schuyler 
from his command can be brought forward as bearing upon 



31 



his personal character, the subsequent action of the same body 
upon the subject of his resignation, should be entitled to some 
weight in arriving at a conclusion. 

On the 5th of March, 1779, more than eighteen months after 
his removal from an active command. General Schuyler sent 
in his resignation to Congress. On the 8th of March it was 
moved that it be accepted. To this an amendment was offered 
in the following words : " Eesolved, That the President be 
directed to inform General Schuyler that Congress are very 
desirous of retaining him in the sei-vice, especially in the 
present situation of affairs ; but if the state of his health is 
such as that he judges it absolutely necessary to retire. Con- 
gress, though reluctantly, will acquiesce and admit his resig- 
nation." 

This amendment was rejected by a vote of eleven out of the 
twelve states represented, to give place to the following resolu- 
tion, which ivas carried (against the votes of New England and 
Pennsylvania): "Eesolved, That the President be directed to 
acquaint Major-General Schuyler that the situation of the army 
renders it inconvenient to accept his resignation, and therefore 
Congress cannot comply with his request^ 

Would it have been possible to pass such a resolution were 
there even a suspicion of General Schuyler's want of personal 
courage ? 

A part of this, however, seems foreign to the subject of this 
correspondence; and referring back to the commencement of 
your note, I see that I have failed to explain, with sufficient 
clearness, my position in addressing you. 

I have no desire to settle in advance the terms upon which, 
as an historian, you should speak of General Schuyler in your 
forthcoming volume ; nor do I conceive myself entitled to ques- 
tion you personally (except to ask for authorities) upon what 
you have already said about his public services. For this you 
are open to criticism through the usual channels, and this much 



32 



I expressed in my first note, asking you foi- the grounds upon 
which you speak of Greneral Schuyler "as a man wanting in 
personal courage." 

Such a charge, you are well aware, is a criminal charge — as 
against a soldier — more disgraceful to him in the world's esti- 
mation, than any other that can be brought forward, however 
base or contemptible. Upon conviction, the rules of war pun- 
ish it with death ; and society enshrouds its victim with a pall 
of obloquy which never can be raised. A charge made in this 
carefal and deliberate manner during General Schuyler's life- 
time must irretrievably have destroyed, publicly and socially, 
either him or the person who made it — the one if the position 
was made good — the other if he failed in the proof. 

Whatever my personal feelings may be, I have endeavored 
to keep them out of sight, in this correspondence. I have 
assumed that in your desire to delineate the noble traits of 
Washington's character, and especially his watchful supervision 
of the interests of the whole country, you have been induced, 
if not to speak more disparagingly of others than they deserve, 
at least to use language that grates more harshly on the ear than 
you really intended. 

The same cause has doubtless had its effect upon some of 
your general statements. I will cite two instances : Page 378 
you say of General Schuyler, "His friends urged him "to silence 
the growing suspicion of his cowardice ; he answered, ' If there 
is a battle I shall certainly expose myself more than is pru- 
dent.'" His answer to those insinuations has been already 
given in the extract of his letter to Mr. Duer. The words you 
quote as his reply appear to be made up from portions of his 
letter to Mr. Jay upon a very different occasion, and not in reply 
to any communication. 

On the next page you say : "Alarmed by Schuyler's want of 
fortitude, he (Washington) ordered to the North, Arnold, who 
was fearless," etc. 



33 



It seems hardly necessary to place that construction upon an 
order of General Washington, arising froin a request of Oeneral 
Schuyler to send him an active and spirited officer to drill his 
raw militia. 

For these reasons, and because the papers you have sent me, 
as well as the allusions in your last note to the action of Con- 
gress, do not seem to justify the conclusions you have drawn, I 
liad hoped — and still hope — that you may be disposed to recon- 
sider them ; and if favorably, I have supposed that you would 
prefer yourself to apply the remedy. 

The method I have suggested relieves me also from the 
necessity of any public notice of your statement, which I 
gi'eatly desire to avoid. It does not apply, as you seem to 
think, to what is to be, but to what has been written in your 
history. I cannot see how it in the least impinges upon your 
dignity as an author or a historian, to inform me definitely of 
your intentions in regard to it; or to say, as I must again 
respectfully ask of you to do, whether you are willing to take 
any action in the matter at all, in this or any other way. 

Respectfully yours, etc., 

GrEORGE L. SCHUYLER. 



On the 15th of April I addressed the following note 
to Mr. Bancroft : 



New York, April 15th, 1867. 
Hon. George Bancroft, 

Sir: Much time has elapsed since my last communication, in which I ask 
whether you intend to take any action on the subject of our correspondence. 

By your silence I can only infer that I have failed to convince you that you are 
called upon to do so. I have no alternative but to deny publicly the correctness 
of your account of General Schuyler's character for courage, which I can view in 
no other light than a gratuitous insult. 

I shall, unless you object, make use of this correspondence — partly because it 



34 



covers so much of the matter at issue, and also as showing that, in the first place, 
I sought redress from you privately, by a personal appeal to your sense of justice. 

I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 

(IeORGE L. iSCHUYLER. 



To which I received the following reply 



New York, April 15th, 1867. 

Sir: Your letter of this day is received. It remains my unalterable purpose to 
use any document or argument which you may present with perfect impartiality, 
and also not to communicate to you in advance — least of all under a menace — 
what I may have to say of your ancestor in my next volume. 

With the letters you have addressed to me you must do what you please ; but 
they neither present my statements fairly, nor refute them, and so far as General 
Schuyler is concerned, they neitlier offer the best excuse for his failures — for he, 
like other men, had failures — nor do they present the strongest testimonies of the 
general esteem in which his virtues as a civilian and a citizen were held. 

The tone of your note to-day shows conclusively how proper it was for me to 
decline entering into a correspondence with you, on a subject which you can 
hardly be expected to consider with the critical calmness of a disinterested 
inquirer. 

I remain yours, 

George Bancroft. 



I have published all the communications which have 
taken place between us, to show that, in the first place, 
I asked for nothing but the grounds upon which Mr. 
Bancroft made one particular charge against General 
Schuyler ; and also that I confined my remarks in 
writing to him, as far as possible, to that one point. 
At the close of my letter of February 9tli, I distinctly 



35 

state that what I ask of him refers to what has been, 
and not to what is to be, written. 

In my note of April 15th, written to know whether 
he objects to my pubhshing the correspondence between 
us, there is no menace. It merely refers to the alterna- 
tive I had already announced as incumbent upon me, 
if no action were taken by him. 

That my communications to Mr. Bancroft are far 
from being what I should like them to be, I am well 
aware. I have neither the ability, the knowledge, nor 
the facility in writing which would enable me to cope 
with him, had I attempted to enter the field of history 
in my wish to excuse General Schuyler's failures. But 
I have attempted nothing of the kind. In endeavoring 
to defend his memory against the one charge of 
cowardice, I certainly have not, as Mr. Bancroft truly, 
though ironically says, " brought forward the strongest 
testimonies of the general esteem in which his virtues 
as a civilian and a citizen were held ;" but it would not 
be a very difficult task to do so, if it had any special 
bearing upon the subject at issue between us. 

Some other qualities besides learning and diligence 

are essential to complete the character of a successful 

historian. When his materials are collected and his 

intellect has been brought to bear upon them, unless 

5 



36 

treated with candor, fairness and truth, his labor will 
be in vain. He should have some quahties of heart, 
as well as of the head. He should, at least, be capable 
of comprehending the feelings and motives of men 
greater than himself — of distinguishing the true from 
the false, and of having some sympathy for generous 
and unselfish natures. He must have, at all events, 
sufficient sense of honor to save him from the tempta- 
tion of advocating his favorite theories in violation of 
the spirit, if not the letter, of truth. 

Such are the attributes of Marshall, Prescott, Wash- 
ington Irving, Motley, and other American writers, 
whose opinions carry conviction from the elevated 
characters of the men who advance them. 

It remains to be seen what place will be accorded to 
Mr. Bancroft, when his work is completed, upon this 
roll of honored names. 

In the few pages which Mr. Bancroft has devoted to 
a criticism of the Campaign of 1777 and the character 
of General Schuyler, he has, in my judgment, given 
false impressions to the future student of history, by 
omission of what is important to know^ and by an 
unfair application of historical facts. 

While expatiating largely, elsewhere, upon the ineffi- 
ciency of Congress, and its positive inability to furnish 



37 

men, money, provisions, and military stores to General 
Washington's army, the reader might suppose that 
General Schuyler labored under no such difficulties. 
Gordon says: "On the day of the engagement at 
Hubbarton (July 7th) General Schuyler was obliged 
to strip the men at Fort Edward, to send to the troops 
at Fort Anne, by which his own men were left with- 
out lead for some days, except a mere trifle from 
Albany, obtained by stripping the windows. At this 
period he had not above 700 Continentals and not 
above twice that number of militia, and could not 
furnish small cannon sufficient for a couple of little 
schooners on Lake George." 

No mention is made of his great and successful 
exertions in obtaining supplies, or of his prompt action 
in retarding the progress of Burgoyne after the evacua- 
tion of Ticonderoga by General St. Clair — the main 
cause of the success of a campaign which, for the im- 
portance of its results, has been ranked among the 
seven great battles of the world. 

His firmness in detailing from his small force a strong- 
party for the rehef of Fort Stanwix, contrary to the 
decision of a council of officers, and with a new cry 
of treason raised against him for so doing, is not 
alluded to. 



38 

His proposal to Gleneral Washington that Southern 
troops should be used at the North for the purpose of 
promoting a national instead of a sectional spirit in 
the army, is represented as arising from a mean and 
commonplace hatred of New England men, without 
any reference to the principal cause of the difficulty, 
which arose from the unsettled relations of the States 
to the National Congress ; from the unwillingness of 
the soldiers to be commanded by any but officers from 
their own States, and to the impatience of the militia, 
who, when called into service, found themselves com- 
pelled to submit to the discipline of an army — to work 
as well as to fight. 

Nowhere is justice more freely rendered to General 
Schuyler in regard to sectional difiiculties, misappre- 
hended at the time, than at this day in the New 
England States ; and from no other quarter have I 
received such severe comments upon Mr. Bancroft's 
estimate of General Schuyler's character. ^ 

While exposing, elsewhere, the conduct of General 
Charles Lee, of Gates, and others, toward Washington, 
who, as Mr. Bancroft says, "was surrounded by ofiicers 
willing to fill the ears of members of Congress with 
clamor against his management," no reference is made 
to General Schuyler's hearty and cheerful co-operation 



/ 



39 

and compliance with every suggestion from the Com- 
mander-in-Chief. 

He has no word for General Schuyler's devotion to 
his country when, deprived of his command in the 
moment of victory, he continued to serve under his 
successor, who reaped before his eyes the laurels which 
had been destined for him. 

" Though sensible," he says in his letter to Congress, 
" of the indignity of being ordered from the command of 
the army at the time when an engagement must soon 
take place," yet at the same time he writes to General 
Washington, "I shall go on in doing my duty and 
endeavoring to deserve your esteem." 

In the Capitol of the Nation, at Washington, is a 
picture by Trumbull of the surrender of Burgoyne, 
of interest as preserving the likenesses of those who 
were present at the scene. In this numerous assemblage 
of soldiers, but one figure is represented in citizen's 
dress. It is that of General Schuyler, to whom the 
sympathetic nature of an artist thus pays a passing 
tribute. 

These omissions, or some of them, tend to obscure 
the true position of the parties concerned in the Cam- 
paign of 1777. There are, at the same time, statements 
which give impressions not warranted by the facts. 



40 

In answer to a remark like this: "Meantime the 
British were never harried by the troops with Schuyler," 
premising that Mr. Bancroft himself gives the numbers 
under Burgoyne as " 7500 choice men, exclusive of 
Indians, with the most complete supply of artillery 
ever furnished to an army," it is worth while to read 
the army roll of General Schuyler at that time, twenty 
days after the battle of Hubbardton previously re- 
ferred to : 

July 27th. Continental troops, 2700. 

MILITIA. 

STATE OF CONNECTICUT. 

One major, one captain, two lieutenants, two ensigns, 
one adjutant, one quartermaster, six sergeants, one 
drummer, six sick, three rank and file — the rest deserted. 

STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Berkshire County. — Somewhat more than 200 are 
left. 

Hain])shire County. — Colonel Moseby's regiment, teri 
or twelve left. 

STATE OF NEW YORK. 

County of Albany. — 1050 left. 

This being his force on the 27th, on or about the 
29th of July General Schuyler thought proper to fall 



41 

back to Saratoga, which Mr. Bancroft comments upon 
as follows : 

"The courage of the commander behig gone, his 
officers and his army became spiritless, and, as his 
only resource, he solicited aid from Washington with 
unreasoning importunity.''^ 

Even as late as August 4th, he makes the following 
return: "4000 Continental troops — if men, one-third 
of whom are negroes, boys, and men too aged for field, 
or indeed any other service, can he called troops — and 
1500 militia." 

Mr. Bancroft quotes portions of private letters which 
speak despondingly of the state of affairs, as a proof 
that the writers are either untrue to the cause, or else 
that they betoken cowardice. 

I am not surprised that he does not appreciate the 
fact that some men can look their position in the face, 
even in the direst extremity, without flinching from 
duty ; but I am surprised at his inconsistency in bring- 
ing forward such extracts as evidence of weakness in 
Greene, or timidity in Schuyler, when he makes them, 
and justly, too, the ground of sympathy for others. 
"Such is my situation (says Washington privately), 
that if I were to wish the bitterest curse to an enemy 
on this side of the grave, I should put him in my stead 



42 

with my feelings." Again, writing to Congress, he says : 
" Give me leave to say your affairs are in a more unprom- 
ising way than you seem to apprehend. Your army is 
on the eve of dissolution," — and more to the same effect. 

General Montgomery, whose courage and patriotism 
are fully appreciated by a grateful country, writes to 
General Schuyler : "I am exceedingly well pleased to 
see Mr. Wooster here, both for the advantage of the 
service and upon my own account, for I most earnestly 
request to be suffered to retire should matters stand on 
such a footing this winter as to permit me to go off with 
honor. I have not talents or temper for such a com- 
mand. I am under the disagreeable necessity of acting 
eternally out of character — to wheedle, flatter and lie. 
I stand in a constrained attitude. I will bear with it 
for a short time, but I cannot support it long." 

Perhaps some future Bancroft, regardless of General 
Montgomery's established fame, may venture to speak 
of him as "anxious," and suspected of grave moral 
delinquencies. 

But I refrain from further criticisms. While it de- 
volves upon me to defeind General Schuyler's personal 
character, I am sensible that it is more becoming to 
leave to others, not of his family, the vindication of his 
public career. 



43 

It may be said that the omissions of which I com- 
plain are of details not entitled to a place in so general 
a history ; but it is because Mr. Bancroft himself has, 
for no very obvious reason, even if it were true, fast- 
ened upon General Schuyler the imputation of coward- 
ice, that I deem it unfair to withhold what, otherwise, 
he would not be called upon to mention. 

"The best historians of later times have been 
seduced from truth, not by their imagination, but by 
their reason. Unhappily, they have fallen into the 
error of distorting facts to suit general principles. 
They arrive at a theory from looking at some of the 
phenomena, and the remaining phenomena they strain 
or curtail to suit the theory. For this purpose, it is 
not necessary that they should assert what is absolutely 
false. In every human character and transaction there 
is a mixture of good and evil ; a little exaggeration, a 
little suppression, a judicious use of epithets, a watchful 
and searching skepticism with respect to the evidence 
on one side, a convenient credulity with respect to 
every report or tradition on the other, may easily make 
a saint of Laud or a tyrant of Henry the Fourth." 

These words of Macaulay describe a method of 
writing history which seems admirably suited to Mr. 

6 



44 

Bancroft's temperament, and of which he has largely 
availed himself. 

In the preface to this volume, Mr. Bancroft announces 
himself " as alone responsible for what he has written." 
Whatever significance may, at one time, have attached 
itself to this expression, I consider it as meaning, in his 
case, that his character as a gentleman, and his general 
standing with the community, challenge any question 
as to the purity of his motives. 

Of Mr. Bancroft's own estimate of himself in these 
respects we have some evidence in the poetical effusion 
which closes his letter in reply to Greene, published in 
the last number of the North American Review : 

"Thou, notwithstanding, all deceit removed, 
See the whole vision he made manifest ; 
And let them wince who have their withers wrimg. 
What, though, when tasted first, thy voice shall prove 
Unwelcome ; on digestion, it will turn 
To vital nourishment." 

I do not find, however, so much lofty disinterestedness 
as these lines would imply, is conceded to him by others. 

In his political career, his course has not been very 
generally considered the result of pure conviction 
through principle, nor is the estimate placed upon him 
by those who have known him the longest and most 



45 

intimately, such as would warrant the assumption of 
merit which he evidently thinks his due. 

If I may be permitted to define the much-abused 
term of "gentleman," as describing a man who, while 
jealous and tenacious of his own dignity and personal 
rights, is equally careful and tender of those of others, 
and who, under no circumstances, can be tempted to 
the commission of a mean or unworthy action, it may 
admit of question whether Mr. Bancroft's character 
will bear the test. 

When, in his note to me of February 5th, he ex- 
presses surprise at my feelings, because in other parts 
of his work he gives praise to Gleneral Schuyler, it is 
clear that he cannot appreciate how deeply the epithet 
of cowardice shocks the sensibilities of honorable men. 

When Greneral Washington, in his memorial to Con- 
gress, expresses a strong wish that the appointment of 
officers should be given to "gentlemen," Mr. Bancroft 
deems it necessary to devote a page to explain away 
and palliate the use of the word. He speaks of General 
Schuyler's "social position," as if that were a draw- 
back to his merit. 

By these poor bids for popularity, at the expense of 
dignity, he shows that weakness of a common nature 
which cannot take in the true spirit of the American 



46 

people, who then, as now, cordially recognize the supe- 
rior advantages of culture and refinement in those who 
are true to the greater responsibilities and the broader 
duties to humanity they entail upon their possessors. 

I hope I shall not be considered as transgressing the 
bounds of propriety in making these remarks in a 
matter which, as between me, the representative of 
General Schuyler, and Mr. Bancroft, is of a personal 
nature. 

In my correspondence with him I endeavored to keep 
in the background my own outraged feelings, assum- 
ing that if I could convince him of error, he would be 
ready to acknowledge, and himself to remedy it. 

Though I have failed in this, it seems to me that the 
most casual reader will find nothing in the documents 
Mr. Bancroft has submitted to me which justifies what 
he has written. 

On the other hand, I believe that those who are 
familiar with the state of public opinion just after the 
evacuation of Ticonderoga, and who have read at full 
length those letters of General Schuyler's friends, writ- 
ten to him at that time, (extracts from which form more 
than half of Mr. Bancroft's authorities,) will be at a 
loss to conjecture what motive has induced him to 
venture so far on such an unstable basis. 



47 

No one of a true and manly spirit would charge 
another with cowardice, unless upon incontestable proof. 
Even then the instincts of a gentleman would make 
him shrink from bringing it forward, unless compelled 
thereto by its bearing upon others, or by the require- 
ments of history. This, however, Mr. Bancroft has done, 
and has given it the large circulation of his history. 

To those few who feel sufficient interest in the per- 
sonal character of General Schuyler to read my protest 
against this wanton insult to his memory, I deem it my 
duty to point out, to this extent, the relative positions 
in the estimation of their contemporaries, of the 
accuser and the accused. 

The complete life of General Schuyler is yet to be 
published. In the meantime I look without much 
apprehension upon this attempt of Mr. Bancroft to 
deprive him of the reputation of a brave and unselfish 
patriot — a reputation hitherto accorded to him by his 
countrymen, based upon the verdict of historians whose 
names are honored and whose works are destined to 
live. 

George L, Schuyler, 

6 East 14th street. 

New York, April 16th, 1867. 






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